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Robert Griffin III, Sam Ponder fired by ESPN, per report
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Robert Griffin III and Sam Ponder are reportedly out at ESPN.
Media reporter Andrew Marchand of The Athletic broke the news Thursday. Marchand reports that both were let go by the network because of budget cuts.
Griffin joined ESPN in 2021 as a college football and NFL analyst. His ESPN bio notes that he was labeled “ESPN’s Next Big Star” by Sports Illustrated in 2022.
Griffin called college games for the network and contributed to year-round coverage, including the Super Bowl, College Football Playoff, Pro Bowl, NFL Draft and Heisman Trophy ceremony. He was featured on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown NFL pregame show for the 2022-24 seasons.
The 2011 Heisman Trophy winner, Griffin had a decorated college football career at Baylor. He played in the NFL for eight seasons, spending time with Washington (2012-15), Cleveland (2016) and Baltimore (2018-20).
Ponder, née Steele, has an even longer history with the network. She joined ESPN in 2011. In 2012, she married former Florida State QB Christian Ponder, then a member of the Minnesota Vikings. She began using her married name professionally in 2013.
Sam Ponder’s first responsibilities with ESPN were as a reporter for Thursday college football games and the Longhorn Network. In 2012, she took over for Erin Andrews on College GameDay. Ponder maintained her GameDay role through 2016. She was also the reporter on ABC Saturday Night Football telecasts with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit in 2016.
In 2017, Ponder became the new host of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown. She is the third-ever host in the pregame show’s multi-decade history. Ponder also contributed interviews and features to the network’s NFL coverage.
Marchand reports that Griffin and Ponder will be the only two firings for ESPN on Thursday. The network’s fiscal year ends next month.
These are the only two moves today. ESPN is not going to have another huge round, but the fiscal year ends at the end of September so there could be a couple of other changes. https://t.co/f7E5vsdcuX
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) August 15, 2024
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
